Letter: More cost, less choice

Regarding your Sept. 26 headline about how Tennessee’s Obamacare premiums will be so favorable, you might want to consider what Sen. Lamar Alexander has found out. He analyzed the report’s portion on our state and found that Obamacare will cost far more than what many Tennesseans pay today. From his release:

Today, a 27-year-old man in Memphis can buy a plan for as little as $41 a month. On the exchange, the lowest state average is $119 a month, a 190 percent increase.

Today, a 27-year-old woman in Nashville can buy a plan for as low as $58 a month. On the exchange, the lowest-priced plan in Nashville is $114 a month — a 97 percent increase. Even with a tax subsidy, that plan is $104 a month, almost twice what she could pay today.

Today, women in Nashville can choose from 30 insurance plans that cost less than the administration says insurance plans on the exchange will cost, even with the new tax subsidy.

In Nashville, 105 insurance plans offered today won’t be available in the exchange.

Said Alexander, “Why should a 27-year-old male in Memphis be forced to pay nearly three times more than what he pays today for health insurance? Why should a young woman in Nashville have to pay twice as much? This isn’t what President Obama promised Tennesseans, but it’s what he’s giving them — higher costs and less choice — that are two of the most urgent reasons Obamacare must be repealed and our health care system fixed.”